Cambodia
history is a tortuous path from the once most powerful empire in Southeast
Asia, life under colonial ambition, survival of an atrocious regime and emergence
as a young and vibrant Country.
The first
vestiges of human presence in Cambodia date back 6,000 years and mark the
starting point of Cambodian pre-history. By the first century AD trade routes
between China and India had developed and groups of settlers appeared in the
Mekong Delta. Chinese records mention the Funan Kingdom as one of the earliest
trading settlements and finds have been made of Roman coins confirming the
establishment of a staging post on important trade routes between West and
East. Funan was strongly influenced by Indian religious and social ideas and is
known as the first precursor of the Khmer empire. The second predecessor would
be the Chenla Kingdom in the 6th century that, according to Chinese records,
gained control over Funan and moved inland.
The period
that follows is known as the golden age of Cambodia history. Angkor history
starts in 802 AD with King Jayavarman II proclaiming itself the first God king
at a ceremony on the Kulen Hills to the North of Tonle Sap. The Angkor era saw
the empire ruling over vast territories and a cultural and architectural
supremacy over its neighbors that reached its zenith during Suryavarman's
construction of Angkor Wat near the modern site of Siem Reap and then the reign
of King Jayavarman VII. After his death the empire started to decline and
Angkor was mysteriously abandoned in 1431.
Post Angkor
history is known as the dark ages due to lack of records and the Kingdom became
fought over between its two neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, being controlled by
either one or the other.
Modern
Cambodia History
To protect the country from its neighbors, King Norodom signed an agreement with the French to establish a
protectorate in 1863. Cambodia became a French colony and part of French
Indochina in 1887. Cambodia was largely neglected; the French collected taxes
but brought few improvements to the country. WWII brought the next chapter in
Cambodia history as control over Indochina shifted to Japanese hands. After the
war the French tried to regain control over the region but King Norodom
launched a crusade for independence that resulted in French withdrawal in 1953.
Cambodia Pr-history
Khmer people were one the first
inhabitants of Southeast Asia. The oldest vestiges of Pre Historic Cambodia
(stone made tools) were found in the cave of Laan Spean in Battambang and
evidence that the cave was inhabited 6,000 years ago. Little is known about
this period although it is commonly accepted that prehistoric men lived in
caves, had basic skills such as the cultivation of rice or the domestication of
animals and practiced animism, worshipping both the spirits of the land and
their ancestors. Other pre-historic sites have been found in Cambodia, such as
Samrong Sen in central Cambodia which was occupied in the 1500 B.C or Bas- Plateau
in Kampong Chang, occupied in the 2nd century BC.
This archaeological evidence shows
that a Neolithic culture inhabited parts of Cambodia in the 1st and 2nd millennia
B.C, although scholars disagree as to whether they migrated from southern China
or from India. By the first century C.E there were relatively stable, organized
societies along the coast and Mekong river delta, and they were far superior
than the primitive societies. They worked metals Such as iron and bronze and possessed
navigation knowledge. Recently, circular earthworks dating to Cambodia's
Neolithic era have been found.
Fun an
Kingdom
The Funan Kingdom was a
pre-angkorian civilization located in the Mekong delta of south Cambodia and South
Vietnam. The development of new trade routes between China and Indian on the
first century AD encouraged the appearance of settlers in the area and
according to Chinese records; one of the first settlements was Funan. Archaeological
evidence found at Oc-Eo (in Vietnam) such as roman coins, Indian jewelry and
Buddhist religious objects, and shows that the Kingdom of Funan was a powerful
trading state. Other archaeological discovery such as a large canal system
linking various settlements within the Kingdom reveals a highly organized
society with a high population density and advanced technology.
The origins of the inhabitants of the Funan Kingdom
are much disputed. The most accepted theory relates that they were a tribe that
spoke a tongue of the Mon Khmer family languages, thus creating a linguistic
link with the Cambodians. Also, Chinese records relate the origin of the Funan
people using the same origin myth that has been used in Khmer folklore to
explain the origins of the Khmer: A foreign Indian prince arrives by sea to an
island where the Naga Kings live and meets the daughter of the Naga king. He
marries her with the blessing of her father, who drinks the sea around the
island and builds a capital for them. The Funan Kingdom was strongly influenced
by Indian culture and had adopted many elements of the Indian tradition such as
the use of the Sanskrit language in the high courts, the Buddhist and Hindu
religions, astronomy, legal system and literature. The Kingdom reached its
power peak under the reign of King Fan Shih-man in the early third century,
occupying present Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and part of Malaysia.
However, by the 6th century A.D the stability of Funan was put in jeopardy by
civil wars and the Kingdom of Chenla gained control over Funan, starting
another phase of Cambodian history.
Khmer
Rouge
The political events of the last 5
years had prepared the ground for the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975: the
excessive corruption and incompetence of Lon Nol's government, the intermittent
USA bombing in Cambodia during 1969-73 that killed around 150,000 peasants, the
American and South Vietnamese invasion of Southeastern Cambodia that drove the
North Vietnamese troops deeper into the country and the support showed by
Sihanouk to the Khmer Rouge led many Cambodian's to believe that they would be
better off under the Pol Pot led party. At the beginning the Khmer Rouge
had been dependant of their Vietnamese allies, but as they grew stronger and
gained support in the countryside, they became more independent and their
ideological line took a different approach: they pursued an indigenous
communism based in the agrarian Chinese Cultural Revolution (as opposed to the
more Soviet style communism followed by the Vietnamese), supported by strong
nationalist feelings. Despite their earlier collaboration Cambodian communism
was embedded in strong anti-Vietnamese feelings.
Agrarian
Utopia
In 1975, after a long civil war
against Lon Nol's army, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and was greeted by
effusive crowds that believed the end of the war and hardship would finally be
over. Nothing further from reality, the new regime (Democratic Kampuchea) would
be the most brutal in Cambodian history. Next day the
Khmer Rouge started evacuating all the cities and relocating all their citizens
to the country side. Cambodia was reinvented into a radical agrarian utopia:
all foreign influences, capitalism, western culture, religion and modern life
were abolished. Embassies were closed, foreign expelled, newspapers, radio and
television stations were closed, health care and education eliminated, money
and markets banned. Children were removed from their parental guard and put in
communal camps. Cambodia was taken back to "year zero".
The Khmer Rouge killed an
estimated 2 million Cambodians in a four year period. Deadly purges were
conducted to "purify" the society. At the beginning they were aimed
at the elements of the "old society": teachers, intellectuals,
doctors, lawyers, wealthy people, Buddhist monks, police, former government
officials and the educated. Towards 1967-68 the party became obsessed with the
idea of enemies infiltrating into the party ranks and the bloody purges were
carried out against party cadres.
Malnutrition and disease claimed a
big number of deaths. The regions were given unrealistic quotas of rice that
have to be sent to Phnom Penh and more often than not people would be left with
no food in order to meet the quotas. Starvation along with lack of medical care
(there were no trained people and no medicines) proved fatal, and by 1977 the
country could not sustain itself due to the high percentage of death. However,
delusions of grandeur of the regime led them to raid Vietnamese villages in
order to gain control of the Mekong delta.
The poorly equipped Khmer troops
were not match for the Vietnamese forces, and the results were catastrophic.
Pol Pot responded with more purges within his party members and a number of
them escaped to Vietnam. Amongst them was Heng Samrin, a military whom
the Vietnamese chose to replace Pol Pot, who was becoming a nuisance for them.
In 1979 dissident Cambodians assisted by around 90,000 Vietnamese soldiers
invaded Cambodia and Pol Pot's regime fled to neighboring Thailand. Despite the anti-Vietnamese feelings of Cambodians, Vietnamese occupation was eagerly
welcomed.
Modern
history: from 1993 to present day
In 1993, the first democratic
elections since the Khmer Rouge regime and the Vietnam occupation took place in Cambodia under the
supervision of the UN. Over 4 million Cambodians voted and Funcinpec party
(headed by prince Ranariddh) won the elections with 58 seats, closely followed
by Hun Sen's Cambodian's People Party (CPP). Funcinpec entered into a coalition
with the other participating parties creating a 120 member assembly that
drafted and approved the constitution. Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen became
First and Second Prime Ministers. The government slowly started the process of
rebuilding the country.
In 1997 factional fighting between
Funcinpec supporters of Prince Norodon Ranariddh and CPP's supporters of Hun
Sen broke out, leaving a bloody confrontation in Phnom Penh. Prince Ranariddh's
party was accused of plotting with Khmer Rouge leaders to overthrow the CPP
from power, and Hun Sen emerged as the strong man (as he was declared by the
local media) that would bring stability to Cambodia.
In the 1998 National Assembly
elections the CPP received 41% of the votes, Funcinpec %32 and Sam Rainsy Party
13%. The CPP and Funcinpec parties formed a coalition government with Hun Sen
as Prime Minister. In 2004, due to health problems, King Sihanouk abdicated the
throne after a long active life in Cambodian politics. The Royal Council of the
Throne, body responsible for electing the successor to the throne, selected
Prince Norodom Sihamoni as the new King and he is the monarch in the present
day.